Ryanair, an Irish-based low-cost airline, could base up to 20 aircraft in Ukraine in the near future.
The airline’s head Michael O'Leary announced this in an interview, the CFTS portal reports, citing the Avianews online publication.
According to O'Leary, everything indicates that Buzz, the Central European subsidiary of Ryanair, would also be the operator of all the airline’s bases in Ukraine.
Buzz’s fleet will increase to 54 aircraft by the end of October, of which 46 will be 189-seat Boeing 737-800s and eight will be the new 197-seat Boeing 737-8200s, which began arriving in 2021.
O'Leary recently told investors that Ryanair was planning an aggressive expansion in Ukraine if the country joined the European Union's Open Skies deregulated aviation market in the coming months. According to him, there are as many as 12 suitable airports in the country.
Ryanair currently operates from five Ukrainian airports, namely the Boryspil in Kyiv and the Lviv, Odesa, Kherson, and Kharkiv airports.
The airline began performing regular flights to Ukraine in 2018, but it currently has no aircraft based in the country. The opening of a base in Ukraine does not mean that the air carrier will launch a subsidiary in the country. However, this will allow it to operate more flights from its base airport and offer passengers a more convenient timetable.
